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Cisco Systems plans to acquire privately held Metacloud, which specializes in private clouds based on the OpenStack-based open-source cloud computing platform.

The goal with the acquisition is to accelerate Cisco’s Intercloud strategy, which was announced in March. At the time, the company said it would invest over US$1 billion to expand its cloud business over the next two years, including building an OpenStack-based “network of clouds” with partners.

Metacloud—which is based in Pasadena, California—fits like a glove with that strategy. The company deploys and operates private clouds for large organizations with a OpenStack-as-a-Service model. They run in the customer’s own data center, according to Cisco.

With Metacloud’s technology enterprises can match the operational benefits of public clouds with the security and control provided by private clouds, Cisco said. Service providers, meanwhile, can combine their public cloud deployments with remotely managed OpenStack private clouds, Cisco noted. The company foresees a future where enterprises use a mix of private and public clouds as well as on-premise applications.

That Cisco is showing a growing interest in private clouds doesn’t come as a surprise. The price war between public cloud providers Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft has forced much of the rest of the industry to change tactics, focusing more on private clouds in the process.

Cisco’s acquisition of Metacloud is expected to be complete before the end of next month. Once that happens, the company’s employees will join Cisco’s Cloud Infrastructure and Managed Services organization, Cisco said. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

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